Local
White Horse Inn building in Oakland hits market for $2.5 million; bar lease runs through 2029
The two-story Telegraph Avenue property includes the historic LGBTQ bar and five apartments. The bar’s owner says she is exploring ways to buy the building or secure its future through a community-centered model.
The building that houses Oakland’s White Horse Inn, widely regarded as the country’s oldest continuously operating gay bar, was listed for $2.5 million in mid-October. The sale is not expected to affect the bar’s lease, which runs through 2029, according to the listing agent.
The two-story property at 6551 Telegraph Ave. includes the bar on the ground floor and five apartments above. Tamara Spokane of Citrine Advisors is handling the listing. Graham Bell, who has owned the building since 1986, also ran the bar from 1980 to 1995. He said at age 82 he was ready to step away from the responsibilities of owning the property, while hoping the bar’s tradition will continue.
Patty Dingle, who took over the bar in 2022, said she is considering purchasing the building and may seek partners. She is also weighing a collective ownership model, in which the community could help sustain the venue. Dingle described the White Horse as a community space and said its future should extend beyond her own tenure.
The bar officially opened in 1933, after Prohibition ended. Some accounts suggest it may have operated as a speakeasy earlier. It began as a gay-friendly bar attached to a Chinese restaurant in Oakland’s Bushrod Park neighborhood, near the Berkeley border, and grew into a gathering place for East Bay LGBTQ residents.
Bell said the bar’s local following strengthened after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake disrupted travel across the Bay Bridge and more people stayed close to home. During his time running the venue, he renovated it with a dance floor and upgraded sound system, drawing inspiration from San Francisco’s Polk Street gay bars.
Today, the White Horse hosts a range of LGBTQ events and performances. It appeared in the HBO series “Looking” and has sponsored Oakland’s Oaklash drag festival. Oaklash founder and performer Mama Celeste said the venue has offered an alternative to more narrowly defined gay nightlife spaces, and that Dingle’s leadership strengthened its inclusive character.
Dingle said maintaining the business has become difficult as revenue has declined. She is considering cooperative ownership or a nonprofit structure as possible ways to keep it going. The building’s sale puts those questions into focus for a longtime community venue, even as its lease currently protects the bar’s ability to remain through 2029.